Category Archives: Uncategorized

I have a new blog over at Tumblr: #WorldWrighter. I’m not quite sure I need more than one blog, but I think there are things I’d like to share over there which are different than those over here. This one is centered around my novel writing and my writing life, and the Tumblr will focus on other writing, such as a webcomic I am working on, and also some daily writing prompts that I’d like to try (daily as in to fill in when I don’t have anything else to on my mind. Check it out. I’ve already posted a really stupid comic strip, and some notes on my webcomic plans.

Psst… My Weird West Fantasy Novel Red Rain is the project I’ve chosen for my first major webcomic. I’ve not yet decided if I will follow the story as I have it outlined, or change it up a bit (or perhaps keep the characters and write a new plot). I won’t be able to start on the artwork for it until I have saved up enough money for a new tablet and the cool graphics app that the pros use. Otherwise, I will be doing it by hand, the way I learned to do oh… twenty-five or more years ago. There are more details over there, click here and go there!

Thanks a ton for your interest. I hope to be doing much more in the upcoming months.

I’m struggling to give my female character Nika Silbersichel depth, without making her wimpy or annoying. She starts out weak, and her character arc is all about finding strength and finding herself (and empowerment) in a man’s world.

My story is a supernatural action adventure story, so just how much personal growth is too much? I like this blog post because it addresses the fact that movie viewers (like novel readers) might just read too much into a character arc than the creator intended.

Because Nika is weak in the opening chapters, does that mean that the critical reader won’t continue with the book because they hate how she acts and reacts to her world, and how she lets men get away with being awful to her? In the 1930s, even with suffrage, women were not given much respect in the culture.

Later in the book, she has quite a few revelations and grows (in my opinion), into a very strong female character. But if the reader sets the book down early on, they will never find out. What do you think? Let me know your responses to this, and to the blog post I’ve shared.

Welcome! This is a Tri-weekly blog* by Author J.L. Metcalf where I discuss anything and everything that strikes my fancy. If you have ideas on what you think I should write about, please send me an email via my website!

For now, sit back, relax and enjoy the blog!

*All views expressed in “The Female Perspective” are those of J.L. Metcalf, not Great Stories, Inc.

I would be Black Widow in a second, uterus or no uterus.

I’m going to assume that most of you who read this blog know who Black Widow is, many of you probably know more about her than I do and that’s cool, please feel free to share that knowledge in the comments! That being said I want to address the fact that there seems to be a bit of a firestorm out there about Black Widow’s treatment in the last Avengers movie. Now…

I have recently discovered Wattpad, a place to find tons of free ebooks, stories, and other pieces of fiction and non fiction. You can download a free mobile app, making your library portable, so you can read just about anywhere. Of interest to me, however, is the option to upload your own fiction and make it available to readers.

I have added two short stories, ones that I had written a few years ago and submitted to a Steampunk Shakespeare anthology. Both are now posted and available for you to read. These are finished works, and I am happy to share them with you.

Is it MARCH already? I can’t really believe that the world has spun so fast and that time has gone by so… quickly. Mardi Gras has come and gone, and the Lenten season is upon us. More about those later…

February was a relatively good month, even if I didn’t live up to my intention of writing every day. But despite losing the first half month to that persistent chest cold, I did manage to write 17,000 words for the month. I am a spider’s web away from finishing ACT II. This makes me happy. I might have wrapped up February behind my personal goal of 20,000 words and writing every day, but 17K is nothing to cough at! (pun intended)

January was a lost month, for writing. But I am not too down on myself for it. I was sick for the first two weeks. I still have the dregs of the cough. Additionally, I spent some time focussing on my health issues. I saw my doctor, and he gave me some new meds, including insulin (thanks for the samples!), and it took a bit for my body to adjust to them. I have been sleeping quite a bit, which is not usual for me. Once, I slept for 29 hours, mostly continuous. I am certain my body needed it, and still does. But, with me sleeping more than my usual 4-6 hours at a time, it has impacted the rest of my life. For January, I decided to let my writing take back seat to everything else.

Wanted to let you know that I performed a little revision on Chapter Four. I added a tasty tidbit about the adversary that I had intended for a later chapter but realized I needed to slip it into Creed’s account of his dreamwalking. Enjoy.

Good news and bad news (well, not really bad news, just not so good news).

The good news is that I am feeling much better and I have come a long ways to catching up on my word count. The bad news is that I am not yet caught up, like I had planned. If I continue at the pace of the last few days, I should catch up by Monday or Tuesday.

Thursday is a dead writing day, turkeys and friends and all. That leaves me Friday and Saturday to zoom ahead and win NaNoWriMo (50K words). The other not good news is that even though I am past the 30,000 word count, I am not yet half-way through the plot of my story. Instead of being 60,000 words as planned, it looks like it will be closer to 90,000. Gulp. This means that I probably won’t finish the first draft until mid to late December.

As you may know, I have been under the weather this last week. It is not serious, just sinus headaches and chest congestion/coughing. As a result, I have not been sleeping, and concentrating on my novel has been difficult.

Consequently, my word count for NaNoWriMo is sadly, pathetically behind. I am currently at 12,000 words, where I should be at 25,000.

No. I am not giving up on NaNo. No way, no how.

But what this means is that I need to focus on speed-writing so I can catch up. Posting chapters here, out of necessity, makes for much slower writing. I am a lot more mindful of my choices. My inner editor keeps hammering at my brain to fix things, knowing that an audience will be reading it (and soon). And, I absolutely must give the chapter at least a cursory edit before posting it. All these things slow me down.

The biggest anchor to my word count speed, however, is research. In order to send this stuff out here, I need to do some preliminary fact-checking, looking up appropriate setting info, and spending time with the lingo, and word choices (i.e. my thesaurus).

During a typical NaNo November, I cast aside all these precautions and simply write, knowing that I will catch all the errors, fix the crud, and look stuff up – during the editing process. That is December’s work.

I type away, inner editor safely boxed up (duct tape works well), and when I hit a snag, I just make a comment or note in the work, and speed on. My manuscripts are rife with little yellow boxes surrounding words or phrases that need work or research.

Yes, you guessed it. Because I need to focus on my word count, because I need to catch up, I can’t afford the time it takes to polish (limited though it may be) the chapters for publication here on my blog.

I am going to speed through, type furiously, and pump out my 50K words before November 30th. If, and only if, I get significantly ahead of my daily word count, will I consider posting more chapters. But on the upside, December is editing month… half a month is not so long to wait and see what happens to Creed and Nika.

I have the whole work plotted, and I know all the twists and turns. I just have to get it into my computer.

Also, because I lost a week of writing (so far – I am still not over this gunk), I have cancelled all my regular DJ shows in Second Life, until December. I’ll kick this cold, and I will catch up.

I care abut my writing. It matters to me. It matters that it is enjoyable. So I don’t want to send out work that I am not completely ready to release.

Thanks for understanding, and please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

November 17th, in San Francisco CA, there will be held an event called The Night of Writing Dangerously.

I have attended this event three times. This is its 6th year, and I fear I will not be able to go and write with hundreds of NaNo authors from around the globe.

Why can’t you go, you ask? The reason is quite simple. Nobody has sponsored me.

You see, this is a fundraising event for The Office of Letters and Light, a non-profit group who does a lot of good, especially in the Young Writers Program, making sure young, talented writers have every opportunity to shine. You can read more about OLL and YWP by following my link below.

In order to attend this event, I need to raise $250. So far, nobody has sponsored me. Yup, I am a bit sad about it, but I know times are hard. They are super hard for me, I must admit. In the past, family and friends have sponsored my attendance, and there have also been years where I came short, and had to stay home.

So… this is my last ditch effort to get some support. I know it is a lot to ask, but if you can afford even a little, it would mean a lot to me, and also to the kids you will be helping through YWP.

Thank you in advance for your awesome generosity. I would very much like to revisit this incredibly fun night of writing abandon.